[4] In the late 19th century, Yaquina City was the western terminus of the Oregon Pacific Railroad, linking the harbor there to Corvallis and Albany.

[6] Thomas Egenton Hogg, the rail line's chief promoter, and his Eastern financial backers believed that a steamship–railroad combination using Yaquina Bay could compete successfully with the usual Columbia River route to Portland.

[6] However, Newport and nearby Toledo, more accessible by highway, grew larger over time while Yaquina City shrank.

By the beginning World War II, Toledo was the western terminus of the rail line, and the tracks from there to Yaquina City were removed.

[2] Historian Edwin Culp writes: "Today one can drive along the bay from Newport to Toledo, pass through Yaquina City, and never know that such a town existed.